Open Wings
by Animegoil
Summary: When the angels and demons reunite for Shuichiro's birthday, it's not a happy reunion for Ryuuki and Koryu, who unknowingly turn to each other for comfort in their loneliness, and a sick Touki forces herself to come with Ranshou, where things turn bad


**Woow... I am writing the first Wish fic... –awed- wow. That's cool! Anyway. To clear up some things- this is after the manga ends, and about the gender reference of the characters (angels and devils having no set gender) :**

**Hisui, Touki, and Kohaku are she's.**

**Kokuyo, Koryu, Ryuuki and Ranshou are he's. **

**I hope you enjoy the fic! 

* * *

**

_**Open Wings  
**_

* * *

Ethereal winds blew past the fantasy-like variety of trees that grew in the Garden of Heaven. Golden, blinding sunlight poured down from the hands of God Himself, above, making the lush land glow. The clouds seemed to saunter gracefully, cotton fluffs dotting the ample and spacious lap of blue. The mirroring lake below the blue ocean of sky reflected its beauty, a most realistic sketch.

A lone angel sat by the water's edge, feet immersed in the clear waters, reaching up mid-calve, chilling the warm skin just barely. Figurines and twisting curls of water bloomed from the calm liquid surfaces, dancing to a mournful song. Slowly, the blooms of dancers and lavishly intricate curves swirled about the surface, leaning up to touch the angel's hands and face, refreshing.

Then small angel slowly rose, robes unfolding beneath her, dipping into the cool water as she straightened with apparent difficulty. Her almost abnormally petite body tottered for a moment before she finally seemed to regain control of herself. But within the passing of only a few steps, she crumpled back onto the green carpet of grass blades, breathing shallowly.

Shadows passed over her pale face as the cotton clouds waved themselves in front of the bleaching sun, and a light darkness ruled underneath, robbing the angel of her source of energy. Finally giving a short sigh, the small suitenshi resigned herself to her fate. Raising herself on all fours, she crawled progressively the short few feet until she arrived at the spot underneath the weeping willow where she simply laid down and curled up, letting her eyelids drift shut over glazed hazel orbs, silky bangs laying softly on the grass.

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

"Ryuuki, how are you?"

The katenshi grumbled something incoherent, chin cupped in his hand, an explicit expression of distaste on his face.

"What's got you in such a mood?" a kind smile accompanied the words. Ryuuki glanced up, silken strands of flaxen, bleached hair swinging from his face.

"You're going aren't you, Ranshou?"

"Of course. If our dear Kohaku has invited us to Shuichiro's birthday, it's only courteous to attend. Besides, I wouldn't give up this chance to be able to see them all again," the Earth Angel Master's customary smile remained plastered, an effective mask to anything he could have possibly been thinking or feeling, "And I think you want to see Hisui, don't you?"

Ryuuki grumbled again, "Well, yeah, but I also don't want to see those pesky devils, especially Koryu, again..."

"I think you two are so alike though," a deathly glare was given in response to the words, "Besides you being an angel and he a devil, of course," Ranshou patted the smaller angel's back affectionately.

"I'll beat the stuffing out of him! And that Satan's son, for stealing my Hisui!" the fiery-tempered angel stood up abruptly, fists in the air.

"Calm down, will you, Ryuuki?" Ranshou fanned himself, "Or you're going to barbecue the grass."

The said angel glared at the older angel, but settled down, settling instead for flaming the air. Ranshou chuckled.

"By the way, have you see Touki?"

Ryuuki suddenly gave a sly smile to Ranshou, "I think you like her."

Ranshou laughed, "Maybe, maybe not. I like her just as much as you like Hisui."

The younger angel sputtered, "I do not like Hisui!"

Ranshou smiled, "There's your answer," his gaze turned upwards to the bright sunlight blazing from the eternally blue sky, and a light sigh spilled from his lips, "It's so lonely now that Kohaku and Hisui are living on Earth. It's reduced our number from five to three. And with Touki nowhere in sight, I have only you to talk to."

"Hey! What does that mean? Am I not good enough for you?"

"Of course not," the taller angel attempted to placate the younger fire angel's ruffled pride, "Well, I'll be off now. I'm going to look for Touki so that we can go to Earth."

"Touki's going? I thought she didn't like Earth?" Ryuuki asked with a curiously childish cock of his head.

"Well, she may have exaggerated her distaste for the place, but also, she's fond of Kohaku and wouldn't dream of upsetting her after our littlest angel sent us such a kind invitation."

"Speak shorter, will you?"

Ranshou giggled very girlishly, not at all like one of his rank and supposed maturity, "See you later!"

"Ra ra ra, we get to see the stupid devils..." the master of fire cheered with obvious sarcasm, scorching the air vehemently.

3 3 3 3 3

Ranshou peered about the sun-bathed land, eyes shaded by his large hand, a puzzled frown on his face. The chitenshi patted the large, badger-bodied, ferret-faced earthen creature he rode on.

"Now where could Touki have gone?" he wondered, finger tapping his chin in a pensive manner, wings unfurling in the light breeze, "She's not in her territory... ah!" he pound his fist into his open palm, "That's right, maybe she's at the lake..."

The Earth master prided himself in remembering her favorite spot, but was realistic enough to know he'd never know everything about his fellow Angel Master. Patting the earth-based creature to guide it South, he looked forward to going to Earth.

Landing on the grass near the lake, he disembarked and set about casting a glance to see if he could spot her lithe form. She had to be somewhere around here, he'd looked everywhere else. Something white caught his eyes, and sure enough, it was Touki's petite body, lying underneath a willow tree.

Flying over slowly, he bent over her, smiling as he saw that she was asleep. But it turned into a frown as he reached out to touch her face and found it warm. He knelt next to her limp form, gathering it in his arms, her hair spilling over his arm, face furrowed in uneasy sleep.

"Touki?" he said gently, caressing her face. She groaned and stirred, but didn't wake, "Dear Touki, please wake up."

She mumbled something curtly and struggled to open eyes that seemed glued shut. Upon finding the tall form of the earth angel master over her, her eyes widened, but she felt too tired to put up her usual defensive front and instead sighed and let her head rest against his chest.

"What're you doing... here..." diminutive lips mumbled groggily.

"You poor thing... it passed my mind that you must be exhausted what with overseeing and controlling all the hurricanes and tsunamis lately... and you've been overtaking Hisui's job over the wind as well, haven't you?" the chitenshi said sympathetically, holding her gently and rocking her, "You had to refuse our help..."

She remained quiet, knowing that if she chose to speak, she'd have to become defensive and push him away, and she didn't want that, not yet. Child-sized fingers stroked the folds of his clothing thoughtfully as she let her aching body linger against his strong supporting frame for a moment longer. But finally, the moment had to end, it was too risky for her, and struggled up, doing her best to hide her sickness.

"I'm fine. I don't need you," the tiny angel said slowly. He gazed at her as if exasperated and sighed.

"So you say. You know you don't need to act that way with me," he squeezed her shoulder, "So don't."

Her usually brilliant and acutely piercing eyes were glazed as she responded, "You know I can't help it... Maybe someday..." her silken tone was almost regretful, "But not today," she murmured quietly, her gaze fixed on his pained one.

"It's all right, Touki dear, I know you like me," he grinned, masking the heartache her words caused him. The said angel kept her gaze locked on him for a moment longer, before blushing and turning her small delicate face away.

"Is it time to go?" the water master's quiet voice was uncomfortable, feeling as if she'd said too much in the past conversation, shown too much of herself. Trying to find a distraction and bury the previous conversation deep in the corners of their memories, where it would quickly fade away, she repeated, "Is it?"

Hazel eyes gave her a stern gaze, "I doubt it's the wisest choice for you to go when you have a fever and are exhausted."

Her slim hand reached up as if in confirmation of his words and touched her forehead. Finding that he was right, and she couldn't deny that fact, she tried to defend her position with something else, "I'm better now, I slept for a long time."

That though, didn't help her at all, "You mean you were worse than this?"

"Ranshou..." the small suitenshi, "Please... understand, I don't like weakness..."

"I accept you with all your weaknesses, it's what makes you... you don't need to hide it," he argued gently, fighting like he had for decades and decades against her reclusive nature, "Don't tell me there isn't a side of you that would like to be loved and comforted in your weakness?"

Her clouded gaze seemed to become unfocused and she tottered forward, balance skewed, into Ranshou, who caught her neatly, letting her catch her wavering breath, "Do I?" she mumbled incoherently into his shoulder, as if not realizing that she was speaking out loud, "Maybe... I do..." she admitted to herself in a pensive tone.

And then she was suddenly aware of the strong arms around her and her gaze focused again, and the taller angel smiled. He was getting through her, and someday, he'd be rewarded by her open love.

"So are you sure you want to go?" he asked, knowing that it would be too intrusive to pry anymore at the moment. The tiny angel master nodded.

"I want to see Hisui and Kohaku," she admitted. What she wouldn't admit was that she didn't want to be alone.

"Well then, let's go," his bright face glanced at her, a touch of concern glinting in his eyes, "But you'll have to take it easy."

Touki nodded reluctantly. She wanted to go, very much, but another side of her was afraid, because she'd be exposing herself in her weakest state. Why did she have to come down sick now of all times? She hated to show dependence on anyone, much less when she was trying to prove she was strong to Ranshou.

Although... hadn't he just said that he didn't care if she had weaknesses? Somehow his words had comforted her. Maybe she didn't need to be so... cold and finally let her façade drop. At least in front of him. The mere idea of revealing herself to Ranshou was frightening, but to the others it was simply preposterous, impossible.

A golden light began to glow around Ranshou, accentuating his long masculine face, and the shining symbol on his forehead as he summoned the earthen beast he often used for transportation. The ground shuddered temporarily, and then settled, the creature snorting happily, nudging Ranshou's hand. He smiled at it, petting it fondly.

"Come, Touki," he said, smiling at her in a way that she inwardly found comforting and brightening, though on the outside she simply gave him a furrowed frown as he picked her up gently, hands under her knees and shoulders, his long braid whipping behind him, and set her lithe form riding side-saddle on the creature's back. Then he sat himself of it as well, cradling her balance-deprived form in front of him, arm around one waist to keep her from falling.

The small water angel glared at nothing in particular furious at herself because every time she tried to sit straight, free from leaning against Ranshou, she'd always end up falling back against him, whether from a jerk of the earthen creature, or the tiredness that would irrepressibly claw at her, or a simple tug from the angel behind her.

Finally, as her head was beginning to nod from sleep against his shoulder, the beast stopped in its track, and Touki opened her eyes immediately, hurriedly detaching herself from Ranshou as he chuckled and disembarked, holding his arms out to her to help her off, as he always did, tenderly setting her down with that gentle touch only he seemed to possess towards her.

"Don't let him know," Touki breathed in a warning to Ranshou, speaking of Ryuuki, who was trotting over at full speed.

"Are we going now, then?" he asked breathlessly, "Where were you?"

"Nowhere," she answered shortly.

"Ooh, someone's in a bad mood. You should act that way with those stupid devils..." Ryuuki muttered, casting a poisonous glance downward, towards Earth, and farther down, Hell.

"Ryuuki, you should at least be _courteous_ to them," the calm earth angel said.

"No way," the young katenshi crossed his arms indignantly, "I'm loyal to heaven, and other angels, but I don't deal with _devils_. Plus, I'll never forgive Firebomb Kokuyo for-"

"Yes, we know," Ranshou said, intending to placate him. It apparently worked to a certain extent, because the young angel snapped his mouth shut, the air around him uncomfortably hot, and Touki edged away from it, feeling her strength ebb with the passing of time.

"Ryuuki, since Touki needs all of her energy to control the flurry of hurricanes and tsunamis, would you mind using more energy to replace hers?" Ranshou asked, and Touki was glad for his discreetness.

"Fine," the angel shrugged, it wasn't a big deal to spend a little more energy than usual. The area glowed with an iridescent illumination as the silver portal opened like a vertical pool of unreflective water. Ryuuki slid through, muttering something about hating these rocky portals.

"Come, Touki," the chitenshi smiled at the petite stony-faced angel, symbols fading already from his forehead, and swung her up into his arms.

"Wha- Ranshou!" she protested, the faintest tinge of pink dashing her cheeks over the vague tint of the fever. Her glare was a vain attempt to restore her wounded independence and pride.

"Wouldn't want you to fall through the portal," he said laughingly, knowing full well that he was giving a false reason for picking her up. The real reason was much simpler- he just wanted to take advantage of every opportunity he could be with her and touch her. Sometimes he felt like he was deceiving her, then realized that she very well knew his feelings for her.

With the small angel comfortably cradled in his arms, the tall angel stepped through the portal, and blinding white light enveloped them, swirling around them at dizzying speeds, images and colors shifting and morphing around them, and then there they were. Hovering above the famous garden of Shuichiro's home, the portal swiftly shutting behind them.

"Ranshou, put me down," Touki said urgently, struggling to get out of his arms and onto the ground as they saw the current house residents filing out at Ryuuki's arrival. He set her down smoothly, frowning inwardly as he saw her tip to the side momentarily.

"It's the Angel Masters!" Kohaku cried out happily, flaxen hair bobbing up and down with her excited jumping. Shuichiro filed behind her, his teenaged frame standing neatly above hers, and behind them stood Kokuyo and Hisui, the devil's arm draped around her waist tenderly.

"It's so good to see you," the former wind master waved, a smiled gracing her lips, and Kokuyo gave a curt nod, but there was nothing displeased in his manner. As a matter of fact, he was beginning to become fond of the angel masters. Or at least tolerated them as friends.

"Hisui!" Ryuuki immediately barked, flying forward with unbelievable speed and taking Hisui off balance as he all but jumped on her, hugging her tightly, "I missed you!"

"Yes, I did too," the graceful angel smiled widely, amused at Ryuuki's action and Kokuyo's reaction- a twitching of his lip as he saw the young fire angel so close to Hisui.

"Why you little... get off her," he glared, and Hisui chuckled.

"It's all right Kokuyo, no need to be jealous," she tried to soothe him. Ryuuki looked up, tongue slipping between his lips in a raspberry.

"How have you been doing?" Ranshou asked Shuichiro and Kohaku meanwhile.

"Pretty good," Shuichiro responded pleasantly, giving the young, cheerful angel beside him an embarrassed look. Apparently the younger incarnation of him was shier about his feelings than the old Shuichiro.

"It's been wonderful!" Kohaku chirped, leaning into the medical student's gentle ruffling of her hair.

"Glad to hear it, God is very happy for you as well, little one," the tall chitenshi gave her a fond look, "We are all very glad for you."

"How are you, Master Touki?" continued the blonde naïve angel, bowing lightly to the much smaller suitenshi, who was trying her best to retain her focus this early on in the evening.

"I'm doing all right," she said as conversationally as she could possibly muster, smiling serenely at one of her favorite younger angels. Ranshou gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head, a smile twitching at the corner of his mouth. Touki would never admit she was sick, of course, but sometimes it worried him, hard as he tried in being patient with her. He knew the reason though, for her nature, and hence couldn't blame it on her. Still it almost exasperated his patient nature.

"Happy Birthday, Shuichiro," the earth master congratulated the dark-haired man, who blushed and scratched the back of his neck.

"Er, thanks," he mumbled. Black eyes glanced up, "Though really it was Kohaku's and Hisui's idea. The party, I mean."

"Yeah, cause if it was up to me, I wouldn't bother," Kokuyo jeered good-naturedly, prying Hisui away from the katenshi and holding her rather possessively in his arms.

"Of course we have to have a party, it's Shuichiro's eighteenth birthday!"

"Do you want something to drink?" the former fuutenshi asked the other angel masters.

"Milk for Touki and I," Ranshou answered, giving Touki a look for confirmation, "I'll help you."

"And me!" Ryuuki and Kohaku called out.

The chitenshi and fuutenshi hovered off into the kitchen, leaving the others to sit.

"Ranshou, is something wrong with Touki?" Hisui asked, drawing the milk out of the fridge.

"She's a bit sick," Ranshou explained, "But of course, knowing her nature, don't let her know you know."

"Of course," the feminine fuutenshi smiled pleasantly, then looked down, "She's been taking over my job as well, hasn't she?"

"Yes. And well, you know, with the current weather..." he broke off, not needing to explain anymore to Hisui, for she knew, it'd been rainy and windy lately as a result of all the hurricanes and weather problems lately. Ranshou sighed, "She's exhausted, the poor thing."

"Don't let her hear you call her that," Hisui laughed lightly. Ranshou did too, knowing that Touki would get angry with anyone who dared do or say anything along the lines of pity. But then he realized that he had done so before, and she seemed to not get as angry with him.

"Will she be alright, though?" the exiled angel asked Ranshou.

"I'm sure she'll be fine. She is Touki, after all," he smiled reassuringly.

3 3 3 3 3

"My luck is failing with the ladies..." Koryu moaned, running into Kokuyo out in the garden, "I found this one chick in Hell, but she was ignoring me."

"You had luck?" Satan's son answered merciless as always.

"FYI,I did. What do you call what I had with you?" the younger devil asked indignantly, dark raven hair swishing along his small face, golden eyes glittering in the coming darkness.

Kokuyo almost eeped, looking behind him for any sign of Hisui, then looked at Koryu, "Pity?"

"Haha... oh shit," he mumbled as he heard voices, "Are all the angel masters here?"

"Yup."

"What about the fire master?"

"Oh. Him... yeah, he's here too," Kokuyo's gaze went up one on the danger scale. Koryu pretended not to notice and went on.

"I'm getting bored with Kohaku, and he seems the best one to pick on after her..." he suddenly licked his lips, "I know... I should have some fun with him..."

"He's an angel master, he could fry your butt without breaking a sweat," the half-blind heir to Hell tried to instill some sense in his impulsive friend.

"I'll fry _his_ back," flames crackled in his hands.

Kokuyo had to laugh lightly and stretched his legs, watching Koryu's eyes dance with upcoming glee, hiding something behind his eyes. But Kokuyo's laughter died down quickly as he studied Koryu closer. The devil had been rather subdued lately, what with at first waiting for Kohaku to wake from her century-long sleep, and then as he began losing interest in picking on her, mostly because Shuichiro took such good care of her and wouldn't allow it.

The result had been a growing sense of restlessness and loneliness, making him subdued at times and bitterly troublesome at others. The change wasn't at first apparent, but Kokuyo had known Koryu for many centuries, and he had noticed the change. He hung around more often in Hell, doing what, he could only guess from Ruri and Hari's disheveled states, but it didn't seem to make a difference in Koryu's well-hidden depression.

In fact, it was rather worrying Kokuyo. But there was nothing that he could do, and he could only hope Koryu would find _someone_ to rid him of his depression and loneliness.

3 3 3 3 3

"Where's that other stupid devil?" Ryuuki mumbled to himself, looking warily about.

"Master Koryu is not stupid!"

"Yeah, you don't have a right to say that just cause you're cute!"

Ryuuki jumped up with a yelp as two claws were inserted into his arms rather painfully, and turned around with a furious glare on to the twin cats of the younger devil in the house.

"What are those?" the fiery tempered angel asked with a certain amount of steel and steam in his voice.

"We're not _things,_ you know."

"Yeah, and Master Koryu isn't here yet."

The both sighed theatrically, purring loudly, "What a devil..."

"So I hear," Ryuuki's eyebrow twitched with impatience and finally he kicked the two cats out of the way, their insulted and injured cries echoing down the hall.

"Master Ryuuki!" Kohaku protested.

"They had it coming, scratching me like that," he growled, poking gingerly at his bleeding arm.

"Can I lick it dry?" a low, seductive voice purred at his ear and Ryuuki jumped up again as a wet tongue slipped lightly across his arm, lapping up the bleeding droplets.

"You filthy demon!" the katenshi glared furiously out of surprise, holding his arm.

"Feels better, doesn't it?" the young devil said, mischief a second current in his voice underneath his husky overtone. Ryuuki blinked suddenly.

"Oh. It does," then he gave a suspicious glance at the devil, "Doesn't make me like you any more."

"Oh, I doubt it does," Koryu responded rather smoothly, to Kokuyo's amusement as he came into the living area, Ranshou carrying the tea cups filled with milk precariously, "But I know something that will."

Then angels were completely oblivious to the innuendo, the only ones who understood it being Kokuyo, Shuichiro. Possibly the other angel masters as well, if they weren't as naïve as some assumed.

"Now now, settle down," Hisui laughed soothingly, coming into the living room with a large tray bearing a birthday cake on it, "It's time to begin celebrating!"

The square table had two occupants per side, with Kohaku and Shuichiro on one, Hisui and Kokuyo at the other, and Ranshou and Touki at the other, leaving Koryu and Ryuuki sitting next to each other.

"Happy Birthday, Shuichiro!" the melodic young cherubim-hatcher squealed, wrapping her arms around the blushing young man.

* * *

**Well, sorry if the ending was a bit odd, but I wasn't sure where to stop this chapter. As soon as there are sufficient reviews, then I will update. **

**Next chapter: Haywire party, major fluff, some actual bonding between the depressed Koryu and Ryuuki before Koryu decides to starts playing with Ryuuki, and setting up for the third chapter, which will be the beginning of the actual plot. So yes, there will be more chapters! **

**Any comments or questions are appreciated, hope you liked it! **


End file.
